Feb. 27, 2016 Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
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MALIBU, Calif. - In their regular-season finale against Wells Fargo PCH Cup rival Pepperdine, the LMU women's basketball team jumped out to a 26-9 first-quarter advantage and rode it the rest of the way to an 83-77 victory Saturday afternoon at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.
With the win, the Lions (10-19, 6-12 WCC) complete a season sweep of the Waves (6-23, 2-16 WCC). Coupled with Pacific's loss to Santa Clara on Saturday, LMU finished in a tie for seventh with the Tigers. Due to their season sweep of Pacific, the Lions claim the No. 7 seed at next week's WCC Championships and will face No. 10 seeded Portland on Thursday, March 3. The 2 p.m. tip off will air live on BYUtv and theW.tv from the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Leslie Lopez-Wood came off the bench to lead LMU with 17 points. Seniors Sophie Taylor and Deanna Johnson added 13 points each while Cheyenne Wallace had a game-high 12 boards. Bree Alford chipped in 10 rebounds while Andee Velasco and Bianca Velasco had nine points.
The Lions were hot from the tip, hitting 10-of-20 from the field, including 4-of-8 from three, in the opening quarter. The Waves, meanwhile, had eight turnovers and did not score a point until the 5:29 mark of the period as LMU took a bit 26-9 advantage.
The second quarter saw the teams play to an even 22-22 as the Lions carried a 48-31 lead into the halftime break. The second quarter was also a historic one for the Lions as Taylor's three-pointer with 5:36 on the clock gave the senior guard/forward 1,002 points for her career. She joins Johnson as the first classmates to reach 1,000 career points since 2006 when Kate Murray and Adrianne Slaughter achieved the feat.
LMU continued to build it's lead int he third quarter as a Makenzie Cast three and two free throws by Andee Velasco opened up the largest lead of the game, 60-36.
Pepperdine had a big run in them in the final frame, trimming LMU's 24-point lead all the way down to six. But the Lions held on, clinching their third West Coast Conference season sweep of the season.
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